I just learned of this series:

Halt and Catch Fire is an American period drama television series... aired on the cable network AMC in the United States from June 1, 2014, to October 14, 2017, spanning four seasons and 40 episodes...
....Taking place over a period of more than ten years, the series depicts a fictionalized insider's view of the personal computer revolution of the 1980s and the growth of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. The show's title refers to computer machine code instruction Halt and Catch Fire (HCF), the execution of which would cause the computer's central processing unit to stop working (catch fire being a humorous exaggeration).

It sounds very interesting for a computer nerd.

Has anyone else here seen it?

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I just learned of this series:

It sounds very interesting for a computer nerd.

Has anyone else here seen it?

Yes, I enjoyed it... the episodes about the technical stuff more than some
of the others that get more into the interpersonal stuff. That is also
good TV but I really got into their push to build a PC and some of their
later endeavors.

Mike

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instruction Halt and Catch Fire (HCF), the execution of which would
cause the computer's central processing unit to stop working (catch fire

Yep, specifically on the 6800 series CPU's.

Has anyone else here seen it?

Just starting watching it again during my morning excercises :)

Cheers
J

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On 5/10/2020 6:51 PM, between "Mike Powell : AUGUST ABOLINS":

Yes, I enjoyed it... the episodes about the technical stuff
more than some of the others that get more into the
interpersonal stuff. That is also good TV but I really got
into their push to build a PC and some of their later
endeavors.

I dragged myself through episode 3 (1st season). There was stuff in there that seemed unnecessary and a bit of a distraction.

I think it was in episode 2 that the ex-IBM guy convinces the engineer to use his own money to buy the computer equipment for reverse engineering. I found that unrealistic. The ex-IBM guy is surely still quite wealthy (fancy car, fancy apartment, fancy clothes, etc..) Yet, it is the family-man who has to come up with the money for the computer equipment? That made little sense.

The production values feel like a low-budget Canadian series. I can look past that and focus on the tech/engineering elements. I read that things pick up nicely in ep 4 and onward.

Except for using the early unix-based networked computers on campus, my first use of a PC was a genuine IBM PC in my first professional job in 1993. But even there, I primarily worked with a DEC VAX 11 machine. I had a shared terminal parked just outside my cubicle intended to be split between 5 people. Honestly, I can't remember what I needed to use it for except to lookup or print some basic reports based on parts inventory. Boring! But I did help some people "fix" their report programs when they needed a special feature.

A couple years later, I had a 286/AT AMD based. I started goofing around with RBBS BBS software on that.

But I digress..

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On 5/13/2020 10:31 PM, between "August Abolins : Mike Powell":

On 5/10/2020 6:51 PM, between "Mike Powell : AUGUST ABOLINS":

Except for using the early unix-based networked computers on campus,
my first use of a PC was a genuine IBM PC in my first professional
job in 1993.

CORRECTION. I meant, "1983" I hate using the top row of keys for the numbers! I tend to overcompensate and miss.

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On 05-13-20 13:05, John Riley wrote to August Abolins <=-

instruction Halt and Catch Fire (HCF), the execution of which would
cause the computer's central processing unit to stop working (catch fire

Yep, specifically on the 6800 series CPU's.

I had heard that the originel Intel 4004 had a HCF instruction that effectively shorted +5V to GND via the CPU, letting the magic smoke out. :) It was a design flaw, not an intentional "self destruct" instruction caused by the CPU's logic gates being put into an inintended state, when a certain undocumented (and unintended!) instruction was executed.

There are references to this on the Internet, but it's hard to tell how much truth is in it.


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I dragged myself through episode 3 (1st season). There was stuff in there that
seemed unnecessary and a bit of a distraction.

There is a lot of stuff like, too. IIRC, it almost did not come back for a second season.

I think it was in episode 2 that the ex-IBM guy convinces the engineer to use h
s own money to buy the computer equipment for reverse engineering. I found that
unrealistic. The ex-IBM guy is surely still quite wealthy (fancy car, fancy ap
rtment, fancy clothes, etc..) Yet, it is the family-man who has to come up with
the money for the computer equipment? That made little sense.

If I remember right, it makes sense later.

The production values feel like a low-budget Canadian series. I can look past >hat and focus on the tech/engineering elements. I read that things pick up nic
ly in ep 4 and onward.

Yes, it does do that. It may have been a partially Canadian production,
come to think of it. A lot of the US cable shows are.

Except for using the early unix-based networked computers on campus, my first u
e of a PC was a genuine IBM PC in my first professional job in 1993. But even >here, I primarily worked with a DEC VAX 11 machine. I had a shared terminal pa
ked just outside my cubicle intended to be split between 5 people. Honestly, I
can't remember what I needed to use it for except to lookup or print some basic
reports based on parts inventory. Boring! But I did help some people "fix" th
ir report programs when they needed a special feature.

I got an 8088 XT clone around Christmas, 1987. My first on the job
experience with computers would have come about a year later, working in a library, with some terminal system that ran on who knows what. :)

A couple years later, I had a 286/AT AMD based. I started goofing around with >RBBS BBS software on that.

RBBS is supposedly open source now (may have been then, too). I have
thought about playing around with it some one day, but never seem to get
around to it.

Mike

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CORRECTION. I meant, "1983" I hate using the top row of keys for the number
! I tend to overcompensate and miss.

LOL I prefer the number pad also. :)

Mike


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I had heard that the originel Intel 4004 had a HCF instruction that effectively shorted +5V to GND via the CPU, letting the magic smoke out.

Ah, never heard of it being on the 4004.

Cheers!
j

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On 05-16-20 09:52, John Riley wrote to Tony Langdon <=-

I had heard that the originel Intel 4004 had a HCF instruction that effectively shorted +5V to GND via the CPU, letting the magic smoke out.

Ah, never heard of it being on the 4004.

I heard it many years afo, while I was at university, I believe (i.e. before the Internet), but there are references on the Internet, though none I'd call clearly verifiable.


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On 5/14/2020 5:16 PM, between "Mike Powell : AUGUST ABOLINS":

I dragged myself through episode 3 (1st season). There was stuff in there that
seemed unnecessary and a bit of a distraction.

There is a lot of stuff like, too. IIRC, it almost did not come back for a
second season.

I can probably see why. It probably caters to a very narrow demographic.

I really enjoyed the episode were the principal BIOS programmer loses the backups due to a degaussing and the panic that ensued.

A couple years later, I had a 286/AT AMD based. I started
goofing around with RBBS BBS software on that.

RBBS is supposedly open source now (may have been then,
too). I have thought about playing around with it some one
day, but never seem to get around to it.

I started using it when it was included as a file in one of the computer magazines I picked on the magazine stand. Or, may it was something you could mailorder - I don't recall exactly. Or maybe it was via download on Compuserve.

Anyway, RBBS-PC was available with source right from the very beginning. I really enjoyed modding it and compiling it. The official mods where well managed distros too.

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